Tag: Washed Out

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: JOVM Mainstay Washed Out Performs “Wait on You” in Bandera, TX

Back in 2021, Washed Out‘s creative mastermind Earnest Greene left Atlanta and returned to the countryside he knew when he grew up. Where escapism once flooded his thoughts, today, he’s preoccupied with the universe of wonder in the reality around him. 

He named the former horse farm he moved to “Endymion,” after the John Keats poem about a lovesick shepherd. It has shaped all that he’s created there, from his music to his albums’ creative direction to his planned large-scale visual-art experiments. 

Greene’s fifth Washed Out Album, Notes From A Quiet Life officially came out today through Sub Pop. The album is arguably one of Greene’s most audacious efforts to date, and is anchored around a purity of vision. It’s also the first album of his catalog that Greene wholly self-produced with mixing assistance from Nathan Boddy and David Wrench. 

In the lead up to the album’s release I wrote about three of the album’s singles:

“The Hardest Part,” a bit of classic Washed Out with subtle refinements. The atmospheric and achingly dream-like and nostalgia-inducing production is anchored around twinkling and arpeggiated keys, glistening bass synths, bursts of strummed guitar paired with Greene’s penchant for crafting catchy hooks and swooning choruses. And much like the JOVM mainstay’s most recent work, the song has Greene’s vocal front and center, with the song’s tale of love lost being the heartbroken star of the show. 

“Running Away,” a cinematic yet intimate and deeply vulnerable track anchored around an alternating quiet verse, loud chorus, quiet verse song structure paired with Greene’s unerring knack for soaring and catchy hooks paired with a lush arrangement of glistening and twinkling synths, skittering and thumping beats that furthers the album’s overall aesthetic. 

“Waking Up,” a track that features glistening and burbling synth arpeggios, dreamily strummed guitar, finger snap-driven percussion and skittering beats serving as a lush and cinematic bed for Greene’s intimately cooed delivery. Fittingly, the song evokes the sensation of waking up from a pleasant dream — and the wistful desire to go back to sleep to experience just a little bit longer. 

Notes From A Quiet Life‘s fourth and latest single “Wait on You” continues upon the album’s overall aesthetic — the classic Washed Out sound that has won Greene fans and acclaim everywhere but with subtle refinements: a chopped up vocal sample is paired with skittering beats, glistening Rhodes serve as a lush and satiny bed for Greene’s gently vocoder’ed, plaintive delivery. The result is a subtle house-leaning take on the Washed Out sound that also manages to feel both earnest and deliberately crafted.

Greene teamed up with director Jonah Haber to film a one-take live performance of “Wait on You” which was filmed on location in Bandera, TX — the same location where Greene’s live performance of “Waking Up” was shot.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Washed Out Shares Shimmering “Running Away”

Back in 2021, Washed Out‘s creative mastermind Earnest Greene left Atlanta returned to the countryside he knew when he grew up. Where escapism once flooded his thoughts, today, he’s preoccupied with the universe of wonder in the reality around him. 

He named the former horse farm he moved to “Endymion,” after the John Keats poem about a lovesick shepherd. It has shaped all that he’s created there, from his music to his albums’ creative direction to his planned large-scale visual-art experiments.

Greene’s fifth Washed Out Album, Notes From A Quiet Life is slated for a June 28, 2024 release through Sub Pop. The album, which reportedly is Greene’s most audacious effort to date, is anchored around a purity of vision. It’s also the first album of his catalog that Greene wholly self-produced with mixing assistance from Nathan Boddy and David Wrench. 

Earlier this month, I wrote about the album’s first single, “The Hardest Part,” a bit of classic Washed Out with subtle refinements” The atmospheric and achingly dream-like and nostalgia-inducing production is anchored around twinkling and arpeggiated keys, glistening bass synths, bursts of strummed guitar paired with Greene’s penchant for crafting catchy hooks and swooning choruses. And much like the JOVM mainstay’s most recently work, the song has Greene’s vocal front and center, with the song’s tale of love lost being the heartbroken star of the show. 

“Running Away” the album’s second and latest single continues a remarkable run of synth pop that’s simultaneously cinematic yet intimate and deeply vulnerable. Anchored around an alternating quiet verse, loud chorus, quiet verse song structure paired with Greene’s unerring knack for soaring and catch hooks, “Running Away” features a lush arrangement of glistening and twinkling synths, skittering and thumping beats that continues to be classic Washed Out — but with super clean production that places Greene’s gently vocodered yet plaintive delivery at the center.

“Starting a new album often means a lot of failed experiments,” Greene explains. “Basically, I’m just waiting around until I stumble into something new that I can build an album concept around.  For NFAQL, that song was ‘Running Away.’  It had all of the ingredients that ended up shaping the aesthetic for the album: a more minimal arrangement, sonic clarity, and more of an emphasis on classic songwriting technique.”
 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Washed Out Shares Surreal, Dream-like Visual for Achingly Nostalgic “The Hardest Part”

Back in 2021, Washed Out‘s creative mastermind Earnest Greene left Atlanta returned to the countryside he knew when he grew up. Where escapism once flooded his thoughts, today, he’s preoccupied with the universe of wonder in the reality around him.

He named the former horse farm he moved to “Endymion,” after the John Keats poem about a lovesick shepherd. It has shaped all that he’s created there, from his music to his albums’ creative direction to his planned large-scale visual-art experiments.

Greene’s fifth Washed Out Album, Notes From A Quiet Life is slated for a June 28, 2024 release through Sub Pop. The album, which reportedly is Greene’s most audacious effort to date, is anchored around a purity of vision. It’s also the first album of his catalog that Greene wholly self- produced with mixing assistance from Nathan Boddy and David Wrench.

Notes From A Quiet Life‘s first single “The Hardest Part” is classic Washed Out with subtle refinements: The atmospheric and achingly dream-like and nostalgia-inducing production is anchored around twinkling and arpeggiated keys, glistening bass synths, bursts of strummed guitar paired with Greene’s penchant for crafting catchy hooks and swooning choruses. And much like the JOVM mainstay’s most recently work, the song has Greene’s vocal front and center, with the song’s tale of love lost being the heartbroken star of the show.

Unabashed and unafraid to pioneer and incorporate new technologies within his art, Greene enlisted multi-disciplinary artist, writer, and director Paul Trillo to direct the music video for the album’s lead single, “The Hardest Part.” Created using OpenAI’s Sora, “The Hardest Part” marks the first collaboration with an artist and filmmaker to be generated entirely utilizing this technology.

Before I forget some background here: OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company. Their mission is to ensure that artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. OpenAI’s Sora is an AI model that can create realistic and imaginative videos from text instructions. Although the model isn’t publicly available as of this writing, OpenAI is currently working with a number of visual artists, designers and filmmakers to gain feedback on how to advance the model to be the most helpful for creative professionals.
 
“I had the seed of this video concept 10 years ago, where we do an infinite zoom of a couple’s life over the course of many decades, but I have yet to attempt it because I figured it’d be too ambitious for a music video,” Paul Trillo says. “While the technology is experimental and cutting-edge, I wanted to do something that also felt like a classic music video that would hold your attention no matter what tech was being used in the process. I was specifically interested in what makes Sora so unique. It offers something that couldn’t quite be shot with a camera, nor could it be animated in 3D, it was something that could have only existed with this specific technology. The surreal and hallucinatory aspects of AI allow you to explore and discover new ideas that you would have never dreamed of.  Using AI to simply recreate reality is boring. I wasn’t interested in capturing realism but something that felt hyperreal. The fluid blending and merging of different scenes feels more akin to how we move through dreams and the murkiness of memories. While some people feel this may be supplanting how things are made, I see this as supplementing ideas that could never have been made otherwise. Many artists in this industry are constantly compromising and negotiating their ideas with the reality of what can be made. This offers a glimpse at a future where music artists will be given the opportunity to dream bigger. An overreliance on this technique may become a crutch and it’s important that we don’t use this as the new standard of creation but another technique in the toolbelt.”
 

“‘The Hardest Part’ is a story about nostalgia and love lost.  With the video, I wanted to bring this narrative to life in a sincere way that was also exciting and unexpected. I’ve been a fan of Paul for a long time and he is amazingly skilled at incorporating cutting-edge visual effects that elevate a story instead of simply supplementing it with shock and awe,” Washed Out’s Ernest Greene says. “He was at the top of my list of potential collaborators. 
 
“What he’s come up with is nostalgic, sad, uplifting, and often quite strange.  However, he still manages to make you feel for the characters and invested in the journey of how their lives progress.

“I think that Paul is right when he says that this video could only be made using this new AI technology.  In my opinion, the hallucinatory quality of Sora clips feels like the beginning of a new genre unto itself – one that is surreal and unpredictable and entirely unique to traditional cinema or even animation.”
 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Perry, GA-born, Athens, GA-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Ernest Greene is creative mastermind behind the acclaimed synth pop/chillwave, JOVM mainstay act Washed Out. Started in earnest in 2009, Greene posted material on MySpace, which caught the attention of a nubmer of influential blogs who championed him, while comparing his work to JOVM mainstay Neon Indian and Memory Tapes.

Building upon a rapidly growing profile, Greene released his first two Washed Out EP in August and September 2009. The Perry-born, Athens-based JOVM mainstay supported his early efforts with his first New York area show at the now, long shuttered Santos Party House. He continued upon that momentum with a set at 2010’s Pitchfork Music Festival. And  “Feel It All Around” was chosen for the acclaimed, smash-hit TV series Portlanadia.

In early 2011, Greene signed with Sub Pop Records, who released his critically applauded and commercially successful full-length Within and Without: the album peaked at #26 on Billboard 200 and #89 on the UK Albums Chart. 2013’s sophomore album Paracosm was a radical change in sonic direction that featured a warmer, tropical-inspired sound — but while retaining the ethereal quality of his previously released material. 2017’s third album, the  Cole M.G.N. co-produced Mister Mellow was released through Stone’s Throw Records, and featured a beatmaker-inspired aesthetic.

Greene’s fourth Washed Out album, last year’s Purple Noon was written and recorded by the JOVM mainstay with production following a brief stint of writing with other artists — mostly notable with Sudan Archives on her debut Athena. Those collaborations found their way into Purple Noon‘s material with the album sonically drawing from R&B and modern pop. While arguably being among the brightest and more robust sounding material he’s released to date, the album is also a big leap forward: Greene’s vocals are placed front and center of the entire mix with the production featuring harder hitting beats.

Deriving its name from Rene Clement’s 1960 film Purple Noon, which was based on Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Talented Mister Ripley, Greene’s fourth Washed Out album is inspired by the Mediterranean coastline — with Greene paying tribute to the region’s island-based cultures, elegance and old-world charm. The surroundings serve as a gorgeous backdrop to stories of passion, love, loss and longing. Purple Noon‘s first single “Too Late” can be descried as a bit of a return to form: it’s swooning synth pop featuring skittering beats, glistening bass synth arpeggios, Greene’s lush vocals, a rousingly anthemic hook and a decidedly Caribbean/Mediterranean Island meets Quiet Storm air. Just under the hook-driven, breezy surface, the song is full of desperately aching longing.

Earlier this month, Green released a remix of “Too Late” by Puerto Rican pop duo Buscabulla. Buscabulla ‘s remix retains Greene’s achingly plaintive and lush vocals and pairs them with a funky and blissed out, New Jack Swing-inspired production featuring a strutting bass line, skittering beats and squiggling synths.

Along with the remix, Greene announced that he’ll finally be hitting the road to support Purple Noon during Winter 2022. The tour includes a February 7, 2022 stop at Brooklyn Bowl. The rest of the tour dates are below. And you can check out the following — https://washedout.net/tour for ticket information and more.
 
Mon. Jan. 10 – Asheville, NC  – Orange Peel
Tue. Jan. 11 – Nashville, TN – Brooklyn Bowl           
Thu. Jan. 13 – Houston, TX – Stereo Live
Fri. Jan. 14 – Austin, TX – Empire
Sat. Jan. 15 – Dallas,  TX – The Granada Theatre
Mon. Jan. 17 – Phoenix, AZ – The Van Buren
Tue. Jan. 18 – San Diego, CA – The Observatory               
Thu. Jan. 20 – Los Angeles,  CA – The Wiltern Theatre
Fri. Jan. 21 – Santa Ana, CA – The Observatory
Sat. Jan. 22 – San Francisco, CA – The Regency                 
Mon. Jan. 24 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom
Tue. Jan. 25 – Seattle, WA – Showbox at the Market 
Fri. Jan. 28 – Salt Lake City, UT – Metro Gallery
Sat. Jan. 29 – Denver, CO – The Gothic Theatre      
Mon. Jan. 31 – Minneapolis, MN – USA – Fine Line
Tue. Feb. 01 – Chicago, IL – Metro    
Thu. Feb. 03 – Toronto, ON – The Danforth Theatre
Fri. Feb. 04 – Montreal, QC – L’Astral
Sat. Feb. 05 – Boston, MA – Paradise                        
Mon. Feb. 07 – Brooklyn, NY  – Brooklyn Steel                                 
Wed. Feb. 09 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
Thu. Feb. 10 – Philadelphia, PA – Underground Arts
Fri. Feb. 11 –  Chapel Hill, NC  – Cat’s Cradle
Sat. Feb. 12 – Atlanta GA – The Eastern
 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

John Andrew Stallings is a McKinley, TX-born and-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, and the creative mastermind being the emerging solo indie dream pop recording project Juno Uno. Much like countless other singer/songwriters across the globe, Stallings began songwriting exploring sounds and song structures with an acoustic guitar but he quickly expanded upon his sonic palette when he learned other instruments, eventually finding his voice with electric guitar and various synths.

During a brief relocation to Austin, Stallings began to further explore his expanded sonic palette and began prolifically writing material. He started a few musical projects under various names and identities, but then decided to leave Austin to travel across the country. Inspired by a newfound spiritual growth and mysticism, Stallings returned home to McKinley, where he built studio and committed his time to writing and recording material inspired by Tame Impala, Toro Y Moi, 1980’s synth pop with his latest solo recording project Juno Uno.

Stallings’ Juno Uno debut, “Sides” is a dreamy single centered around a sinuous bass line, atmospheric synths, squiggling guitars, Stalling’s plaintive falsetto and a shimmering guitar solo, that may remind listeners of Tame Impala and Washed Out. As Stallings explains in press notes, the song “is about a shift in perspective. It is about how the world is changing and it is up to each individual to interpret what that change means.” Stallings adds that “‘Sides’ came out of a time spent living in an apartment with rappers and electronic music producers. Their influence pushed me in a direction I was uncomfortable with at first, but eventually led to an expansion in my sonic development. This experience taught me how to trust the flow of the universe, as well as may own confidence in the creative process.”

singer/songwriters by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Rising Brooklyn-based Artist Quelle Rox Releases a Slow-burning and Shimmering Single

Raquelle, a.k.a. Rocky is a rising Brooklyn-based Latinx singer/songwriter and producer. After graduating from my alma mater, NYU, the rising Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter, delved into production with her solo recording project Quelle Rox, which finds Raquelle striving to open doors for female Latinx producers, while specializing in a sound that she has dubbed “soundtracks catered to dreamy, nostalgic memories of the past with a bad bitch twist.”

Since the release of her debut single “Dream Daises” in 2018, the rising Brooklyn artist has had material featured across the blogosphere including Ladygunn, Earmilk, Notion, and HighClouds. Herr work has appeared on Spotify New Music Friday Latin, Spotify Fresh Finds, Spotify Discovery Weekly, Spotify Latinx IndieRising, H&M Global and a number of other playlists. Adding to a growing profile, Quelle Rox has opened for the likes of Homeshake — and she’s headlined at Baby’s All Right.

Continuing upon that momentum, Quelle Rox’s highly-anticipated debut EP Lilac Rush is slated for an April 23, 2021 release. The EP’s latest single “No Surprises” is a lush slow-burning Quiet Storm-inspired, lo-fi fever dream, fueled by a bittersweet mix of longing nostalgia, heartache, betrayal and anger that brings early Washed Out and Prince to mind: the track is all shimmering and reverb-drenched guitars, sinuous bass lines, skittering typewriter keyboard-like beats with Quelle Rox’s achingly plaintive vocals.

“I originally wrote this song a few years ago to a ‘type beat’ I found online that I was just playing around with for fun while in my feelings,” the rising Brooklyn-based artist recalls in press notes. “I came across the track randomly in my archive during quarantine and even years later, it still resonated with me and resembled the storyline within the whole EP – a longing for what could have been and also a fuck you. So then I hit up my producer and collaborator Identite Crisis and asked if he could take the demo and turn it into its own version, since I wanted to include it on the EP. Shortly after he sent me this fire new beat and I ended up just keeping the old vocals and boom, ‘No Surprises’ was born.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Rising NYC-based Pop Act Eighty Ninety Releases a Shimmering Pop Confection

The New York-based pop duo Eighty Ninety — brothers Abner James (vocals, production) and Harper James (guitar, production) — quickly exploded into the national and international scenes with the viral hit, “Three Thirty,” which rose to #2 on Spotify’s Global Viral Charts. Building upon a rapidly growing profile and the buzz surrounding them, followed up the success of “Three Thirty” with their debut EP Elizabeth.

Their debut EP found the duo further cementing their sound and approach: minimalist pop productions featuring a slick mix of electronic sounds and organic instrumentation paired with infectious hooks and sticky melodies, which they’ve dubbed “808s and Telecasters” — a joking shorthand for their sound and their anything goes mentality to their creative process. “We let the emotional arc of the song, rather than any set of genre conventions, lead us to instruments and sounds,” the brothers say of their process.

Since the release of their Elizabeth EP, the duo’s material have amassed over 26 million streams and have been featured on a numerous Spotify playlists, including New Music Friday, Pop Rising, Indie Pop, Chill Vibes, Viral Hits — and was selected by Taylor Swift on her Songs Taylor Loves playlist.

The duo closes out 2020 with their latest single, “Better as Friends.” Centered around a lush arrangement of glistening synth arpeggios, shimmering and reverb-drenched guitars, thumping beats paired with Abner James’ yearning, ethereal falsetto and an infectious hook, “Better as Friends” is a radio friendly pop confection that brings JOVM mainstays like Washed Out, Summer Heart and Cones to mind. But despite the breezy pop vibes, the song is underpinned by the bitter recognition that both platonic and romantic relationships can be confusing and uncertain.

“Better as Friends” is the second official single off the New York-based duo’s Gian Stone-produced, sophomore EP slated for release next year. In the meantime, the duo released a cinematic and decidedly minimalist video for their new single that’s split between intimately shot performance footage of the band in their studio and the act’s frontman on a rooftop during golden hour in New York. Interestingly, the video manages to capture the brooding and heartache at the core of its accompanying song.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

INNR CIRCLE is a rising Toronto-based Panamanian-Canadian R&B artist, who has started to receive attention both locally and nationally for a sound that meshes elements of New Wave, dream pop and R&B paired with a striking and dynamic vocal register and earnest, lived-in songwriting. The rising Canadian artist’s latest single “Take” has begun to receive attention from a number of tastemakers: “Take” has been featured on Spotify’s New Music Canada, YouTube Music’s RELEASED, as well as Next in Queue, Sine Language, Alternative Hotlist and Your New Alternative playlists — and after hearing the single you’ll see why the Toronto-based artist is so buzz worthy.

Centered around a sinuous bass line, shimmering synth arpeggios, a decidedly Tropical air , a shuffling two-step inducing rhythm and INNR CIRCLE’S achingly plaintive and sultry vocals, the track sonically reminds me JOVM mainstay Washed Out to mind while featuring a a narrator, trying to pursue an old relationship that he fucked up. And as a result, the song touches upon loneliness, longing, frustration, despair and self-flagellation in a way that’s neurotic yet familiar.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: JOVM Mainstay Washed Out on SiriusXM’s “Live for SirusXMU Sessions”

Throughout the course of this site’s 10-plus year history, I’ve managed to spill quite a bit of virtual ink covering Perry, GA-born, Athens, GA-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Ernest Greene, best known as the creative mastermind behind the critically applauded synth pop/chillwave project Washed Out.

Earlier this year, the Perry-born, Athens-based artist released “Too Late,” a track that sonically was a return to form: a swooning yet bittersweet bit of synth pop centered around layers of arpeggiated synths, stuttering beats, Greene’s ethereal and plaintive vocals and a soaring hook — but with a subtly Mediterranean feel.

As it turned out, “Too Late” was unofficially the first single off Greene’s fourth album Purple Noon. Written, recorded by Greene with mixing handled by frequent collaborator Ben H. Allen, the album’s production followed a brief stint of writing with other artists — most notably writing with Sudan Archives on her debut Athena. Those collaborations allowed Green to explore R&B and modern pop and those sounds have made there way into Purple Noon‘s material. Not only is the material reportedly the brightest and more robust sounds he’s ever worked out; it’s also a decided step forward: unlike his previous released work, the vocals are placed front and center at the mix, with slower tempos, bolder, harder-hitting beats and a more comprehensive dynamic depth.

Deriving its name from Rene Clement’s 1960 film Purple Noon, which was based on Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Talented Mister Ripley, the album’s material is deeply inspired by the coastlines of the Mediterranean — with Greene paying tribute to region’s island-based culture, elegance and old-world charm. But the surroundings serve as the backdrop to stories of passion love and loss — with a deeper, perhaps more urgent emotional intensity: the album’s unofficial first single “Too Late” is a tale of a first meet, with all the confused and swooning emotions that come about.

Recently Greene recorded a live session for SiriusXM’s Live for SiriusXM Sessions with his backing band shot in his candlelit front room. The session includes a live version of one of my favorite tracks off Purple Noon, the aforementioned “Too Late,” and a slow-burning, shimmering and absolutely fitting cover of Sade’s “Cherish The Day,” which points at the lush, Quiet Storm-like R&B influences of the album — while reminding the viewer of how great Sade really is.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstay Brothertiger Releases an Atmospheric and Brooding New Single

Throughout the course of this site’s ten year history, I’ve written a bit about the Ohio-born, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, electronic music producer and electronic music artist John Jagos. Known as the creative mastermind behind the acclaimed JOVM mainstay act Brothertiger, Jagos started the project while he was studying Ohio State University. Since then, Jagos has released a handful of EPs, including his critically applauded debut Vision Tunnels, Out of Touch, which featured  “Out of Touch” and “Beyond The Infinite,” and last year’s A Chain of Islands EP. Jagos has also released three full-length albums: 2012’s Golden Years, 2013’s Future Splendor and 2015’s Out of Touch. And each of those efforts helped to establish his sound a sound that sounds as though it were influenced by Tears for Fears,  St. Lucia, Washed Out and In Ghost Colours-era Cut Copy.

Slated for a September 11, 2020 release, Paradise Lost is Jagos’ first full-length album of original material in five years. “This record was, for me, the culmination of a lot of time and development,” the JOVM mainstay says in press notes. “Since my last album was released 5 years ago, I had been building on top of that sound, trying to make it even more dynamic and distinct. This record is also my most personal, and I think that shows not only in the subject matter, but in the choice of sounds as well. I find that in electronic music, you can capture an emotion honestly with synthesized sound, not just with lyrics.”

Sonically speaking, the album reportedly finds Jagos expanding upon the sound that has won him critical applause — with the album ranging from hook-driven indie pop to club-banging electronica centered around the Ohio-born, Brooklyn-based JOVM mainstay’s plaintive vocals singing lyrics that thematically touch upon aging gracefully, longing for purpose and celebrating life’s simple pleasures among others. Earlier this year, I wrote about the shimmering, Washed Out-like “Livin'” a track that thematically focuses on confronting the weirdness and uncertainty of life as you get older. Continuing a run of brooding and atmospheric material, Paradise Lost’s latest single “Shelter Cove” is centered around shimmering synths, Jagos’ plaintive and subtly effected falsetto and a soaring hook, the song manages to evoke the bracing chill of dipping into cooler than expected water for the first time. 

“‘Shelter Cove’ was one of the last tracks I wrote for Paradise Lost,” the JOVM mainstay says in press notes. “I was sort of at a crossroads at that point in terms of how I wanted to wrap up the record. I found the pad sound on my Juno 60 after running it through a bunch of compression and saturation, and I knew I had to make a song around it. The song is about some specific times on tour, driving through northern California on the Pacific Highway, finding swimming holes with my friend and sound tech Will. We’d look up some spots on our days off and drive to them. Last time we did was in October. We went to Pfieffer Beach near Monterrey. It was really windy and it clearly wasn’t swimming season, so everyone at the beach was dumbfounded watching two pale idiots running into the ocean.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstay Washed Out Teams Up with Caroline Koning for an Intimate Meditation on Longing and Touch in the Age of COVID-19

Throughout the course of this site’s ten year history, I’ve spilled quite a bit of ink covering Ernest Greene, a Perry, GA-born, Athens, GA-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, best known as the creative mastermind behind the acclaimed synth pop/chillwave act Washed Out.  The project can trace it origins back to around 2009: After earning an undergraduate degree and a Master of Library and Information Sciences degree from the University of Georgia, Greene was unable to find a job as a librarian. Greene moved back in his parents and began writing and producing material in his bedroom studio as well as with a local electro pop act Bedroom.

Shortly after posting Washed Out material on his MySpace page, the Perry-born, Athens-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer was discovered and championed by a number of influential blogs, who compared his sound to Neon Indian and Memory Tapes. He released his first two Washed Out EPs in rapid-fire fashion in August and September of that year. Building upon a growing profile, 2010 saw Greene continue the amazing momentum of the previous year: he played that year’s Pitchfork Music Festival and “Feel It All Around” became the opening theme song for the acclaimed TV series Portlanadia.

In early 2011, Greene signed with Sub Pop Records, who released his his full-length debut Within and Without, an album of icy yet plaintive synth pop to critical applause and commercial success: the album peaked at #26 on the Billboard 200 and #89 on the UK Albums Chart. He ended a breakthrough 2011 by co-curating that year’s ATP Nightmare Before Christmas in Minehead, UK with Battles. 

Greene’s sophomore Washed Out album 2013’s Paracosm was a decided change in sonic direction, as it featured a warmer, tropical-inspired sound that paired organic instrumentation with electronic production — all while retaining the ethereal quality of his previously released material.  

2017’s Cole M.G.N. co-produced Mister Mellow was released through renowned hip-hop label Stones Throw Records, and the album took on a bit of a J. Dilla-esque beatmaking feel. Since the release of Mister Mellow, Greene released a handful of singles including “Face Up” as part of Adult Swim’s applauded Singles Series. Earlier this year, the Perry-born, Athens-based artist released “Too Late,”  a swooning yet bittersweet bit of synth pop centered around layers of arpeggiated synths, stuttering beats, Greene’s ethereal and plaintive vocals and a soaring hook — but with a subtly Mediterranean feel.

As it turns out, “Too Late” was unofficially the first single off Greene’s highly-anticipated and long-awaited fourth album Purple Noon. Written, recorded by Greene with mixing handled by frequent collaborator Ben H. Allen, the album’s production followed a brief stint of writing with other artists — most notably writing with Sudan Archives on her debut Athena. Those collaborations allowed Green to explore R&B and modern pop and those sounds have made their way into Purple Noon‘s material. Not only is the material reportedly the brightest and more robust sounds he’s ever worked out; it’s also a decided step forward: unlike his previous released work, the vocals are placed front and center at the mix, with slower tempos, bolder, harder-hitting beats and a more comprehensive dynamic depth.

Deriving its name from Rene Clement’s 1960 film Purple Noon, which was based on Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Talented Mister Ripley, the album’s material is deeply inspired by the coastlines of the Mediterranean — with Greene paying tribute to region’s island-based culture, elegance and old-world charm. But the surroundings serve as the backdrop to stories of passion love and loss — with a deeper, perhaps more urgent emotional intensity: the album’s first single “Too Late” is a tale of a first meet, with all the confused and swooning emotions that come about. Continuing in that same vein, Purple Noon‘s second single “Time To Walk Away” told the story of a the disintegration of  relationship with an aching sense of loss, confusion and longing. 

“Paralyzed” Purple Noon’s third and latest single continues in a a similar vein — brooding, shimmering yet ethereal synth pop with twinkling keys, thumping beats and subtle Mediterranean flavor through the addition of fluttering flute. Greene’s plaintive vocals sing lyrics detailing the power of love and lust with an ache and longing that should feel familiar to all who have been there before. 

Directed by acclaimed fashion film director Caroline Koning and shot in her native Holland, the recently released video follows a real-life couple Shay and Dories in their most unguarded and intimate moments, conveying love, lust and longing with a simple look, a smile, a touch of the hand. Considering how dangerous human touch is during an age of pandemic, the video will bring back memories of far simpler times — of intimate moments we all may have had with lovers and even with random hookups. 

“Human contact, and something as simple as a touch, has new meaning in the context of today,” Caroline Koning explains in press notes. “These special times make the viewing experience of physical togetherness a different one, and I wanted to tap into that sentiment in a pure way. The couple we follow in the film capture this simplicity beautifully, and what we see on screen all happened very organically. Encapsulating a perhaps general longing for closeness through a very unpretentious narrative gives this spot a natural honesty that I think visualizes the track in a strong manner.”
 
Washed Out has also announced Purple Noon Nights, a culmination of four months of new tracks and visuals leading up to the new album’s release over four nights this weekend. Beginning this Thursday, August 6th and ending on Sunday, August 9th at 8:30 pm ET/5:30 pm PT each night, Washed Out’s Ernest Greene will be hosting a different Purple Noon-related event each night:
 

Thursday, 8/6: Purple Noon listening party
Friday, 8/7: the Washed Out live band’s first live-streamed concert, performing selected tracks from Purple Noon along with highlights from his catalog
Saturday, 8/8: Q&A with fans via @realwashedout’s Instagram Live account
Sunday, 8/9: Greene will host the sixth in his popular Magic Hour Mix DJ sets, with this set focusing on the Washed Outcatalog
 
The listening party, full band set, and Magic Hour DJ set will be broadcast live from Washed Out’s YouTube, Facebook, Instagram TV, and Twitch accounts.
 

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Washed Out Performs “Too Late” on “Late Show with Stephen Colbert”

Ernest Greene is a Perry, GA-born, Athens, GA-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, best known as the creative mastermind behind the acclaimed synth pop/chillwave act Washed Out.  Washed Out can trace its origins back to around 2009: After earning an undergraduate degree and a Master of Library and Information Sciences degree from the University of Georgia, Greene was unable to find a job as a librarian. As the story goes, Greene moved back in with his parents and began writing and producing material in his bedroom studio, as well as with local electro pop act Bedroom. 

Shortly after posting Washed Out material on his MySpace page, the Perry-born, Athens-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer was discovered and championed by a number of influential blogs, who compared his sound to Neon Indian and Memory Tapes. Greene released his first two Washed Out EPs in rapid-fie fashion that August and September. And building upon a growing profile, Greene played his New York City debut — which interestingly enough, was only his second live show ever — at the now, long-shuttered Santos Party House.

2010 saw Greene continue the amazing momentum of the previous year: he played that year’s Pitchfork Music Festival and “Feel It All Around” became the opening theme song for the acclaimed TV series Portlanadia.

In early 2011, Greene signed with Sub Pop Records, who released his his full-length debut Within and Without, an album of icy yet plaintive synth pop to critical applause and commercial success: the album peaked at #26 on the Billboard 200 and #89 on the UK Albums Chart. He ended a breakthrough 2011 by co-curating that year’s ATP Nightmare Before Christmas in Minehead, UK with Battles. 

Greene’s sophomore Washed Out album 2013’s Paracosm was a decided change in sonic direction, as it featured a warmer, tropical-inspired sound that paired organic instrumentation with electronic production — while retaining the ethereal quality of his previously released material,. The year ended with Life of Leisure EP track “New Theory” being featured as background music in a scene of the rom-com The Spectacular Now.

The Perry-born, Athens-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer’s third album, 2017’s Cole M.G.N. co-produced Mister Mellow was released through renowned hip-hop label Stones Throw Records, and the album found the acclaimed artist’s work seemingly taking on a bit of a J. Dilla-esque beatmaking feel. 

Since the release of Mister Mellow, Greene released a handful of singles including “Face Up” as part of Adult Swim’s applauded Singles Series. Earlier this year, the Perry-born, Athens-based artist released “Too Late,”  a track that sonically was a return to form: a swooning yet bittersweet bit of synth pop centered around layers of arpeggiated synths, stuttering beats, Greene’s ethereal and plaintive vocals and a soaring hook — but with a subtly Mediterranean feel.

As it turns out, “Too Late” was unofficially the first single off Greene’s highly-anticipated and long-awaited fourth album Purple Noon. Written, recorded by Greene with mixing handled by frequent collaborator Ben H. Allen, the album’s production followed a brief stint of writing with other artists — most notably writing with Sudan Archives on her debut Athena. Those collaborations allowed Green to explore R&B and modern pop and those sounds have made there way into Purple Noon‘s material. Not only is the material reportedly the brightest and more robust sounds he’s ever worked out; it’s also a decided step forward: unlike his previous released work, the vocals are placed front and center at the mix, with slower tempos, bolder, harder-hitting beats and a more comprehensive dynamic depth.

Deriving its name from Rene Clement’s 1960 film Purple Noon, which was based on Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Talented Mister Ripley, the album’s material is deeply inspired by the coastlines of the Mediterranean — with Greene paying tribute to region’s island-based culture, elegance and old-world charm. But the surroundings serve as the backdrop to stories of passion love and loss — with a deeper, perhaps more urgent emotional intensity: the album’s first single “Too Late” is a tale of a first meet, with all the confused and swooning emotions that come about. 

Recently Greene was on Late Show with Stephen Colbert, where he performed “Too Late” with a gorgeous split camera perspective that offered and extreme close up on Greene performing the song: we see his fingers as they tap various functions on his drum machine and synths — and Greene singing through a two microphone set up. Behind him, a gorgeous sunset on the beach. 

Purple Noon is slated for an August 7, 2020 release through Sub Pop Records. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstay Brothertiger Releases an Achingly Sad Visual for Shimmering “Livin'”

John Jagos is an Ohio-born, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, electronic music artist and electronic music producer, best known as the creative mastermind behind the acclaimed, JOVM mainstay act Brothertiger. Since he started the act as a sophomore at  Ohio State University, Jagos has released a handful of EPs including his critically applauded debut Vision Tunnels EP and  Out of Touch, which featured  “Out of Touch” and “Beyond The Infinite,” and last year’s A Chain of Islands EP, as well as three full-length albums 2012’s Golden Years, 2013’s Future Splendors and 2015’s Out of Touch. Each of those efforts helped to establish Jagos sound — a sound influenced by Tears for Fears,  St. Lucia, Washed Out and In Ghost Colours-era Cut Copy.

Jagos has also released a Tears for Fears cover album, 2017’s Brothertiger Plays: Tears for Fears’ Songs from The Big Chair and a collection of instrumental material, Fundamentals, Vol. 1. Slated for a September 11, 2020 release, Jagos forthcoming Brothertiger effort Paradise is his first full-length album of original material in five years. “This record was, for me, the culmination of a lot of time and development,” Jagos says in press notes. “Since my last album was released 5 years ago, I had been building on top of that sound, trying to make it even more dynamic and distinct. This record is also my most personal, and I think that shows not only in the subject matter, but in the choice of sounds as well. I find that in electronic music, you can capture an emotion honestly with synthesized sound, not just with lyrics.”

Sonically, Paradise Lost reportedly finds Jagos expanding upon the sound that has won him critical applause with the material ranging from hook-driven indie pop to club-thumping electronica centered around the JOVM mainstay’s plaintive vocals singing lyrics that thematically touch upon aging, longing for purpose and celebrating life’s simple pleasures among others. Paradise Lost’s first single is the the ethereal and atmospheric “Livin’.” Centered around shimmering synth arpeggios, skittering beats, a soaring hook and Jagos plaintive vocals, “Livin'” manages to recall Within and Without and Paracosm-era Washed Out — but at its core, the song expresses a familiar crisis to many of us: confronting the weirdness and uncertainty of life as you get older. 

Directed by Trevor Naud and made during COVID-19 quarantines, the recently released video employs digital and analog technologies as it follows a planetary rover as it lands on a planet teeming with life. Adding to the trippy vibes of the video, we follow things from the prospective of the rover: dispassionate yet curious until the rover has a major malfunction and essentially dies. 

“What if a planetary rover–destined to land on a dead planet–accidentally lands on a planet teeming with life?” Naud says of the video’s concept. “I wanted to keep everything very tight and almost impressionistic, where we see what’s happening inside of the rover’s “brain” interspersed with what it’s recording, and then juxtaposed with very high-definition nature show footage. Maintaining a jarring contrast between those worlds. Then, eventually, there’s a malfunction and the magnetic tape comes unwound.

We used all kinds of crazy filming techniques–from VHS to Cinema-grade digital, a semi-functional 1977 Commodore computer, a weirdo rig that allowed us to film with a lens rolling across the ground, and we snuck onto a closed freeway for the final shot.

What I like is that there’s an implied sadness to the rover. By the end of the video, you may feel something for it.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Washed Out Releases an Cinematic Yet Intimate Meditation on Loss

Ernest Greene is a Perry, GA-born, Athens, GA-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, best known as the creative mastermind behind the acclaimed synth pop/chillwave act Washed Out.  Interestingly, the project can trace its origins back to around 2009: After earning an undergraduate degree and a Master of Library and Information Sciences degree from the University of Georgia, Greene was unable to find a job as a librarian. Greene moved back in his parents and began writing and producing material in his bedroom studio as well as with a local electro pop act Bedroom.

Shortly after posting Washed Out material on his MySpace page, the Perry-born, Athens-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer was discovered and championed by a number of influential blogs, who compared his sound to Neon Indian and Memory Tapes.

He released his first two Washed Out EPs in rapid-fire fashion in August and September of that year. Building upon a growing profile, Greene played his New York City debut — which interestingly enough, was only his second live show ever — at the now, long-shuttered Santos Party House. 2010 saw Greene continue the amazing momentum of the previous year: he played that year’s Pitchfork Music Festival and “Feel It All Around” became the opening theme song for the acclaimed TV series Portlanadia.

In early 2011, Greene signed with Sub Pop Records, who released his his full-length debut Within and Without, an album of icy yet plaintive synth pop to critical applause and commercial success: the album peaked at #26 on the Billboard 200 and #89 on the UK Albums Chart. He ended a breakthrough 2011 by co-curating that year’s ATP Nightmare Before Christmas in Minehead, UK with Battles. 

Greene’s sophomore Washed Out album 2013’s Paracosm was a decided change in sonic direction, as it featured a warmer, tropical-inspired sound that paired organic instrumentation with electronic production — all while retaining the ethereal quality of his previously released material, as you’d hear on album singles “It All Feels Right” and “Don’t Give Up.” The year ended with Life of Leisure EP track “New Theory” being featured as background music in a scene of the rom-com The Spectacular Now.

The Perry-born, Athens-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producers third album, 2017’s Cole M.G.N. co-produced Mister Mellow was released through renowned hip-hop label Stone’s Throw Records, and the album took on a bit of a J. Dilla-esque beatmaking feel. 

Since the release of Mister Mellow, Greene released a handful of singles including “Face Up” as part of Adult Swim’s applauded Singles Series. Earlier this year, the Perry-born, Athens-based artist released “Too Late,”  a track that sonically was a return to form: a swooning yet bittersweet bit of synth pop centered around layers of arpeggiated synths, stuttering beats, Greene’s ethereal and plaintive vocals and a soaring hook — but with a subtly Mediterranean feel. 

As it turns out, “Too Late” was unofficially the first single off Greene’s highly-anticipated and long-awaited fourth album Purple Noon. Written, recorded by Greene with mixing handled by frequent collaborator Ben H. Allen, the album’s production followed a brief stint of writing with other artists — most notably writing with Sudan Archives on her debut Athena. Those collaborations allowed Green to explore R&B and modern pop and those sounds have made there way into Purple Noon’s material. Not only is the material reportedly the brightest and more robust sounds he’s ever worked out; it’s also a decided step forward: unlike his previous released work, the vocals are placed front and center at the mix, with slower tempos, bolder, harder-hitting beats and a more comprehensive dynamic depth. 

Deriving its name from Rene Clement’s 1960 film Purple Noon, which was based on Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Talented Mister Ripley, the album’s material is deeply inspired by the coastlines of the Mediterranean — with Greene paying tribute to region’s island-based culture, elegance and old-world charm. But the surroundings serve as the backdrop to stories of passion love and loss — with a deeper, perhaps more urgent emotional intensity: the album’s first single “Too Late” is a tale of a first meet, with all the confused and swooning emotions that come about. Continuing in that same vein, Purple Noon’s second single “Time To Walk Away” is a gorgeous yet haunting song centered around shimmering synth arpeggios, shuffling beats, Greene’s plaintive vocals, an enormous hook and Mediterranean/Caribbean vibes. The track is as infectious as any of his previously released work, but the track tells the story of a disintegration of a relationship with an aching sense of loss and confusion. Ghosts linger. 

Directed by Aussie director Riley Blakeway, the recently released video is a reinterpretation of a personal short film Blakeway shot years ago, presented in music video form. The video presents its central tale of two passionate, young lovers and their relationship in a beautiful and cinematic fashion — but at its core is a familiar ache that we’ve all known at some point.